Law Society Guidelines on Closing of Files
The matter of a solicitor’s duty on closing a file was discussed in 1992 and
a brief note on the subject appeared in the summer ‘‘Council Report’’ of that
year. The Professional Practice Committee agreed:
‘‘That there is a professional duty upon a solicitor to advise a client in writing that the file will be closed in the absence of his instructions within a specific period of time.’’
This is clearly sound common sense in the situation where the solicitor is sitting waiting for further instructions. There must be some way of bringing
the matter to a close so that the filing cabinet can be cleared of dormant files,
accounts can be rendered either to the client or SLAB and both solicitor and
client know the matter has come to an end. However there are cases such as
old conveyancing transactions after the delivery of the Search and other
cases where the matter is obviously concluded where the duty is not the
same.
The matter has now been reviewed and the Committee have agreed that:
In cases where the matter in which the solicitor was instructed has not
come to an obvious and natural conclusion there is a duty upon a solicitor
to advise the client in writing that the file will be closed in the absence of his
instructions within a specific period of time.
